‘And how do you think you can help me?’
A deal of sorts. I help you, and you in turn help me.
Lowri blinks heavily, knowing what it is to make a deal with a creature. Knowing it may have a greater cost than it first appears. ‘Go on.’
If I give you some of the shadow magic I consumed, it will lessen my burden and it will help you too, witch. You’re on the brink of death. I can feel it. But if you take some shadow magic, if you can twine it round the little light you have left, then maybe you’ll live. Maybe you’ll be able to regenerate your light magic, as Isaiah believed to be true of the nature of magic.
Lowri considers this offer, watching the cat that is not really a cat. ‘You have not told Ethlet what you are? What you can do?’
She is but a child.Gracious twitches his tail.Isaiah did not want her to be afraid of me. He wanted to ensure I stayed with her. That I protected her.
‘Keeping secrets never helps. In the end, the truth may be harder, but it’s always better than a lie.’
Perhaps. Do you agree to the deal?
‘I …’ Lowri begins. Footsteps sound outside the door and she turns to see Ethlet framed in the doorway and holding a mug of Fallow Fog. When she looks back to the grimalkin, he has gone.
i nudge kell, pointing tothe far end of the lawn, beyond the terrace where we are standing in the crowd, to where the darkness spills over clipped grass. Sember tosses down a huge joint, raw and bloody, and the drakes scent the air, growing even more restless. My jaw drops. Where in skies has she got that from? Just as quickly, she’s gone, moving from shadow to shadow, and I realise none of the guards are looking at me. They’re too focused on the drakes, on their riders snapping viciously at anyone getting too close.
‘Keep to the edges of the crowd and don’t run until I do,’ I murmur, and Kell nods, understanding tightening his features.
Slowly, we make our way through the crowd as I clock Sember again, pausing for a moment, as though making sure we’ve spotted her before whisking round the corner of the terrace. When I reach the last smattering of guests, I bolt as one of the drakes roars.
Kell and I race across the lawn, sticking close to thepalace walls, and when we leave the crowd behind I duck down beneath a window. ‘You know, I wouldn’t blame you if you chose to escape,’ I say. ‘If it weren’t for Agnes, I’d do the same.’
He shakes his head. ‘Wouldn’t even make it through the city. Wards everywhere, or so Brielle told me once. Whole place is riddled, like a string of invisible bells.’
Eli said this too, the first time we traversed in for our visit to Coven Septern, and for a moment my chest grows heavy at the thought of him, at being so far apart. He is on the edge of my thoughts always, a constant ache in the corner of my heart. ‘I guess we’re stuck in this together, then.’
‘Looks like it.’ He shrugs. ‘Doesn’t mean we can’t get the lay of the land, though. And work out what that Skylan contender is up to.’
I grin. ‘My thoughts exactly.’
Shuffling round the corner, I catch a flash of light, then hear a click as a door is opened. There’s no time to ponder what it was or what Sember did to create that flash before we’re both up, moving through the folds of shadow. On silent feet, I dart towards the door, catching it before it fully shuts. A door that leads back inside the palace … but one almost concealed in the wall, small and hidden behind a hedgerow from the lawns. I tilt my chin to the darkness beyond and Kell nods, flexing his fists.
On the other side we find a narrow hallway leading to a spiral staircase with uneven treads winding up. Wishing I had a blade, I move upwards, inwardlycursing every time a step groans all too audibly from my weight. At the top we find a web of storerooms and, further down the hallway, light and heat emanate from the kitchens along with the chatter of many voices.
A hand pinches my arm, jerking me into a storeroom. Sember holds a finger to her lips as Kell follows, fists raised. The door shuts at my back, and I whip round to find a boy leaning up against it, arms and ankles crossed with an amused smirk.
‘The Skylan spare, I take it,’ I say, shrugging out of Sember’s grip. ‘Were you planning to get those drakes so riled up that they’d torchallyour competition?’
The boy sniffs, gaze travelling past me to Sember. ‘I thought you said they were interesting.’
‘Heath, for goodness’ sake, you can’t turn your nose up at everyone.’
‘Yes, I can. I don’t see why—’
‘We need them!’ Sember says in exasperation, folding her arms as she glares at him. Then her eyes land on me. ‘And, to answer your question, no. The poor things just looked hungry after their long flight, and I needed a distraction. You caught on fast at least. I didn’t fancy finding another huge steak in the cold store and lugging it down all those stairs.’
‘What? He wouldn’t have done it?’ Kell asks, pointing at Heath.
‘Heis a prince and shall be addressed as such,’ Heath says haughtily.
Sember snorts, covering it with a cough. ‘You’ll have to excuse him. He’s a little grumpy about missing out on all the fun. I couldn’t risk him being targeted by some overzealous courtier that hates Skylan.’
‘Drakes are exceptional creatures, and I’m missing an opportunity to study them up close.’
‘You wouldn’t want to get too close to these ones,’ I mutter. ‘So why do you need us? Why draw us away?’
